Pages and Stages

Sunday, July 22, 2012

What really matters (revisted)

We are on vacation and so I am reposting an older post here. This was from October 24, 2010.

What really matters

What makes a home? Is it a roof, the walls, the things in the home or is it
something more? Is it the people who reside in the home or does it go even
deeper?

I really think we adults could learn a lot from Clifford. I mean,
just listen to his stories; How often do we forget the lessons we learn as
children as the demands of life change who we once were? Can our home remain
strong if we sell out ourselves for a few pieces of silver? I guess the answer can
only come from within your own heart.

Children don't need or even want all the things we think they must have to have a great childhood.
The greatest thing a parent can leave their child is faith and love. My own
father was not a wealthy man. he worked hard as a caregiver, and yet I feel that
my brothers and I
have been left with a legacy that we can and should pass on to our own children.
My parents tended their garden well. We children were their garden.

When
the day is done, what did you do for your children? Did you buy them their every want
yet left them in the care of others for hours, or did you neglected them as you worked
late on paperwork you brought home? Children would rather have your time, not
your money. Needs must be met but many things we call needs are nothing more
than wants. Do your children really need the expensive camp you sent them to? Would your time and
energy be better spent playing with them in the park or laughing with them as
you both are digging in the sandbox in your own back yard? What do you think
they will remember next week more? Next year? Ten years from now? When you pass
away and they are speaking at your funeral, will they talk about all the things
you bought them, or will they instead be talking about all the time you spent
doing things (ordinary things, like flying the kite in the spring, playing
barbie dolls in the afternoon, teaching them how to fish, or reading the same
story over and over again, with nary a sigh) with them?

So, in the end,
that cup you're hoping to win one day in the race you keep running, it's just an
empty cup unless it's filled with the real legacy of love you leave; and then I
hope it's overflowing.